Problem Set #4, Page 1 of 2
POL 199
SPRING 2009
PROBLEM SET #4
DUE BY EMAIL TO PROFESSOR HAN & JANE BY 1:30 PM EST, APRIL 2, 2009
DIRECTIONS
Answer each of the questions below. You should submit your answers properly formatted (using the
same guidelines spelled out in problem set #1).
Question #3
Your job in this question is to analyze the regression results below (attached on the back is the description
from the article of all the independent and dependent variables. As you do your analysis, it will be
important to know how the variables are coded.) This is a set of results from an article published in a
professional political science journal. The goal of the analysis was to test the hypothesis below:
“[What are] the determinants of Justice Blackmun’s evaluations of attorney’s oral
presentations [before the Supreme Court]? We posit that attorneys with more litigating
experience, better legal education and training, and greater resources will receive higher
evaluations because such attorneys will offer the Court more credible and compelling
arguments than less experienced or less resourceful attorneys.”
Using the skills learned in class, analyze the results below. Write up your analysis as if you were writing
it to submit to a professional political science journal. Your analysis should provide a statistical
interpretation of the results (i.e. this coefficient is statistically significant; as the IV increases by this
much, the DV changes by this much), but it should ALSO address the substantive meaning of the results
(i.e. what is the relationship between litigating experience and the DV?). Providing a sound, well-written
substantive interpretation of the results is very important. You can draw on the examples of things we’ve
read in class and the readings you did for your paper for help.
As you write, use plain English. Write so that someone who does not understand regression can read
your analysis and understand what the findings from the table are. The answer key for this problem set
will simply be the actual results the authors of this article provide. Your answer will be graded in terms
of how well it’s written (proofread, use complete sentences, etc.) and in terms of the quality and depth of
the analysis you provide.
